we'll get something authentic for construction. ken mahoney, thank you very much. we appreciate it. well, you know what? all three major indices edging higher and the big question this morning when that monster ppi number came out is when will we actually go down. everyone keeps talking about inflation. well, we got a lot of it this morning, and the market did not blink. ashley webster in for liz claman, over to you. ashley: thank you very much, charles. yeah, the markets have responded with a ho-hum. we'll see what happens at the closing bell. we do have breaking news, president joe biden meeting with treasury secretary janet yellen in the white house at this moment after releasing his so-called skinny budget earlier today. the $1.5 trillion discretionary spending plan boosts government cash for many health, education and environment programs.

we'll take you to the white house as soon as we get that tape. meanwhile, as we discussed, markets closing out the week at record levels, the dow and s&p 500 nicely higher now and the nasdaq as well, all three indices looking at weekly gains. as vaccinations ramp up, restaurants are finally springing back to life after being decimated by the pandemic. cameron mitchell, who owns 36 restaurants, well, he's here to tell us how he's managed to weather the covid storm. brighter days ahead, we hope. and gyms and fitness facilities also in that same boat. the ceo and founder of exponential fitness, he'll be here to tell us how pumped up he is for a possible post-pandemic workout craze. all right, lots to talk about. but let's start with a record day on wall street. why not? dow and s&p 500 hitting all-time highs today ahead of the start of the earnings season next week. both on pace for record closes,

this will be the third straight, by the way, for the s&p 500, and both the dow and s&p are on pace for their third straight week of gains. it's all up, up and away. but i want to draw your attention, if i can, to the dow transports. it's on pace for its tenth straight week of gains. that's the longest winning streak, by the way, in an impressive more than 32 years. what's that telling us? well, take a look at some of the biggest movers over the last ten weeks, up 3.5%, alaska air also up around 47% in that time period, down slightly today though, and united airlines also registering more than a 45% gain over the last ten weeks but, again, down today by 2%. let's get to our floor show. phil flynn is with us, also we have scott foreman. gentlemen, thank you both for

joining us. phil, to you first. i mentioned the transports, i mean, does that tell us that the rebound in the economy is well and truly underway in. >> you bet. i feel like singing on the roaden again, because that's what we're seeing, right? and this is the sector that shows the reopening right in front of your very eyes, right? all of -- this sector was so beaten down during the covid shutdown, and now we're opening up, and we're seeing that tease stocks have a lot of -- these stocks have a lot of potential. and it has legs. it's not just about the reopening, it's about more stimulus spending, it's about low interest rates. and it's pent if-up demand. you put that all together, these transport stocks are flying, not just airlines. what i really like is landstar. this is one that services a lot of the different truckings. they look very good. but if you want to get a little bit more there, get a little fedex in your portfolio because that's going to fly as well. [laughter] ashley: you know, charles payne

mentioned this, phil, but the market's pretty much shrugged off that big increase in consumer price indexes, but the fear of inflation very real with that report this morning, but the markets just rugged their should ors. -- shrugged their shoulders. >> i think right now they're listening to the fed telling us it's all transitory. if we look at the commodities space, if you're out to build a house and have to buy lumber or if you need copper or computer chips, you know, i don't think it's necessarily transitory. you know, but at this point, you know, as long as the economy doesn't, you know, choke under these higher prices, which it will at some point if they keep going up, i think that the market's going to suggest it. but we will hit a point when that inflation level gets too high. when you see a pullback in demand, that's when you're going to have the problem. ashley: let me bring in scott foreman. does this upward trend continue for the short term at least? >> i think it does. the signs that we are recovering

and that the recovery has only just begun. i was down in orlando a couple of weeks ago, it was busy as can be down there. the flights were packed, hotels were packed, and people are down and, you know, traveling especially when the kids were out of school. but here's the thing, i think what we have to do is we have to segment a little bit between domestic and international because the fact is, is that our international routes are not opening up as quickly as the domestic ones are. we see the airlines -- ashley: scott, i'm sorry, i'm going to have to interrupt you because we have this breaking news. president joe biden discussing the 2022 budget blueprint at the white house. let's listen in. >> on the loss of prince philip, he was a heck of a guy. he, you know, whether it was his lifetime of service to the

united kingdom and the whole commonwealth, visible to everybody for a long, long time. and his bravery, he served in world war ii as well as being a champion of the environment as well as the charitable things he set up. so we really do express our condolences for an extraordinary life led by the prince. i think he's going to be missed particularly in the united kingdom. 99 years old, he never slowed down at all. which i admire that a lot. and today we're meeting on, we're willing an economic briefing here with the team. i sent to congress my funding priorities for the appropriations process including two key public health initiatives that i'm pushing. first is like darpa and the defense department which has

developed breakthroughs to protect us and enhance our physical safety, i'm proposing a $6.5 billion appropriation for what we call arpah which is focused on going to, focused on health issues. this is a pioneer breakthrough that we hope we can detect and treat, prevent diseases like alzheimer's and diabetes and give us the chance to -- and cancer as we know it. because we'll focus exclusively on those items. and secondly, i'm proposing s.t.a.r.t. funding increase of 50% of $4 billion to end the opioid crisis which still ravages the country and has taken so many lives over the last two years. resources, both the states and the tribes for treatment as well as prevention. it also includes the single largest funding increase ever for title i schools, disadvantaged schools, to lift

up the millions of children and low income families and put them in a position where all the data -- we've talked a lot about this -- the data shows that it puts a child from a household that is a low income household in a position if they start school not in daycare, but school at 3 and 4 years old, there's overwhelming ed that they're able to compete all the way through high school and beyond. so it doubles the funding as well for services including resources and the rape kit backlog. we've been working this for a long, long time, and we still have a backlog in the rape kit. and the point a significant number of women who have been raped and the person has not been found or convicted because they're sitting in jail. the average rapist rapes about six times. and so we want to make sure we go through this backlog and find out to bring some certitude for

the woman saying, no, no, it was true. that's the man. he did it. and it changes the whole perspective, all the hearings we hell on that. and also it make -- held on that. and also it makes major investments in the fight against climate change, and there's issues that are personal to millions of americans in the area of -- because i get that asked and we get spoken to by everyone from mayors and governors, local officials of both parties. so i look forward to working with congress to advance these and other priorities. i think we're going to be able, again, i'm hoping we'll have bipartisan support across the board. i've already spoken to some of my republican colleagues about dealing with the infrastructure legislation we have up there as well as other budget items. so we're going to work on it, see if we can get some bipartisan support across the board here, but that's what we're about to do now. we're going to talk about our

economic priorities and get the brief. thank you all. [inaudible conversations] ashley: all right. so there you have it. president biden just briefly outlining some of his proposed spending budget items for education, for health, for climate change. we should note the department of homeland security basically gets very little extra from last year's budget. we will be going straight to the white house after the break for a full report and the breakdown of what he had to say by peter doocy coming upper, as we say, after the break. and also up next, mcdonald's closing up hundreds of its golden arches inside walmart stores. a shift to online shopping and increasing dependence on drive-through for fast food chains the main reason. mcdonald's down -- i'm sorry, up just slightly. walmart, though, down about a quarter of a percent. meanwhile, restaurants across the country looking for some reopening sizzle after more than a year of pandemic painful cameron mitchell talks about the appetite for indoor dining next.

as we head to the break just a look at the dow, record-breaking pace continues. the dow up 142 points, up nearly half a percent. we are coming right back. ♪ ♪ [announcer] durán catches leonard with a big left. ♪♪ you can spend your life in boxing or any other business, but one day, you're gonna take a hit you didn't see coming. and it won't matter what hit you. what matters is you're down. and there's nothing down there with you but the choice that will define you. do you stay down? or. do you find, somewhere deep inside of you, the resilience to get up. ♪♪

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♪ ashley: breaking news for you, president biden speaking just a few minutes ago about his $1.5 trillion discretionary spending plan. it allocates $769 billion in nondefense discretionary spending. that, by the way, is a 16% increase from this year's levels while defense spending up just 1.7%. peter doocy has been running town the numbers, and he joins us now live from the white house. >> reporter: good afternoon. president biden has long said if you want to know about a man's priorities, you look at his budget, and the president's budget outlined today has the biggest percentage increases to the education department and to hhs. but going in order here of sheer size, $769 billion in nondefense discretionary spending, that's

up 16%. $753 billion for national defense, that's up only 1.7%. $715 billion for the dod, only up 1.6 %. but then $102 billion for egg, that is up 43% -- for education. 131 billion for hhs, that is up 23.5. 52 billion for dhs. flat. and then you've got 27.8 billion for the usda, up 16%. and now the white house explaining why exactly these defense programs in the pentagon budget is staying flat despite what's going on at the border and also recent threats from china and russia. >> the focus of the plus-up on defense is meant to address a couple of issues over that period of time, promoting diversity and inclusion in the armed forces, fulfilling our commitments to military families. part of it goes to military and civilian pay increases, or that's what's proposed and

climate resilience and energy efficiency. >> reporter: republicans, though, who are on recess with the rest of the congress they see this as fiscally irresponsible because of a d-word seldom used here in d.c. >> the national debt stands at $30 trillion. we just added $2 trillion a couple of weeks ago. >> reporter: this is just a budget outline, congress has to approve it. we do not know yet where the full body stands on exactly what the white house is trying to do here. back to you. ashley: all right. that's debt with a capital d, indeed. peter doocy, thanks so much for joining us from the white house. thank you very much. the covid-19 pandemic has delivered crushing blows, as we know, to the restaurant industry. members from the national restaurant association say restaurant and food service sales are down $270 billion from their expected levels.

1.8 million jobs have also been lost during the pandemic while 1 so 10,000 restaurants --110,000 restaurants are permanently closed or will be closed long term. but our next guest says things will be okay for his industry. we welcome cameron mitchell himself. great to see you, cameron. you see a little more optimistic. have we turned the corner? >> well, i'm a heck of a lot more on optimistic now than a yr ago today. but, yes, i think we have. we finished march about 90% of our same-store sales in 2019. we've got our weekend business is tremendous. we're still over 100%, we're about 80% midweek mainly due to lack of the business dinners out there. and business lunches also are still down. so the aggregate, we're about 90% back, and we think the rest of that will come as business

travel resumes and business gets back to work out there and business dining. so, you know, we're cautiously optimistic about the rest of this year. ashley: i like the sound of that. of you said you had to make some difficult decisions during the pandemic to survive. what are some of those that you had to make? >> well, i mean, first and foremost was we furloughed all 4600 of our associates of after we, within one week when we had to close all of our student restaurants -- all of our restaurants. but getting people back, we long decided to get everybody back. that's our goal. we've hired all of our management personnel back and all of our home office personnel back. we still have a number of hourly positions not filled yet as the business still continues to climb, but we're getting there. so it's just -- and having to deal with our people, it was to to difficult through the

pandemic with our associates and covid and the whole covid protocol and taking care of our guests and our associates and providing a safe environment for them. it was just, for a number -- for weeks and weeks there, months kind of drinking out of a fire hose. and, you know, having to make difficult decisions every single day to try to maintain the business and keep the business afloat. ashley: you mentioned some of those hourly workers. there's a real issue across the country right now, cameron, of there's just not enough workers. they're receiving enough in government benefits and extended benefits, and they have no motivation -- they can earn more money staying at home. is that a problem, do you think? >> yes, absolutely. we're, everybody i talk to in the industry is having a very difficult time with hiring now, and it's primarily due to the stimulus. and you're right, an hourly worker here in ohio would get about $750 a week which is more

than what they'd make at a $5-20 hour a week -- 15-20 a week job, or $20 an hour job. we're fighting that battle, but we'll get through it. same thing happened to us last year as the employment benefits started to run out at the end of august. hiring started to ease up, and we expect the same as we get further into the year here. ashley: all right. we'll are to leave it there, but we wish you the very best for the future and, hopefully, we can see this recovery move on and gather some speed. cameron mitchell, thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you. ashley: all right. farmers reaping the benefits of increasing corn demand, but could the post-covid comeback create a corny conundrum for consumers? jeff flock is live on the scene. let's check the big board as we go to the break. records abound. the dow up now 165 points, up at 33,671. "the claman countdown" is coming

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♪ ashley: fox business alert, it's game on in today's pop stocks. fubotv scoring the goal of all goals today, shares of the live sports streamer, as you can see, up more than 11.5% after securing streaming rights to the world cup 2022's qualifying messages for the south american football confederation. they're football crazy in south america. boeing's stock dropping on new problems with its 737 max jets. the aircraft maker warning that a potentialing electrical issue with the jetliner promising all four u.s. airlines that fly the max to temporarily pull them from their flight kennelings. boeing also -- schedules. boeing also saying it's unrelated to the flight control issues that led to two deadly crashes overseas and and a

nearly two-year global grounding of the plane. the e.u. closing in on a deal to buy 1.8 billion additional doses of pfizer's covid vaccine. shares across all the drugmakers moving higher today, but it's really moderna taking the lead this hour, up 5.5%. this as france is looking to mix vaccines to combat the virus. france's leading health authority now recommending that people under age 55 who received a first shot of astrazeneca's vaccine get a messenger rna-based vaccine like moderna and pfizer as astrazeneca has continued to face concerns over blood clotting. and wd-40, everyone has a can of that around, right? slipping into the final minutes of trade after falling short on both earnings and revenue estimates. the stock down 12%. the lubricant maker saying that supply chain issues prevented it from meeting its customers' demands in the latest quarter

and the stock getting hit hard today. well, you've been hearing and probably feeling those rising prices at the gas pump, but now corn futures are also touching their highest level in almost eight years. as nearly half of america's corn crop goes to ethanol production and into a lot of cars. joining us now from a corn farm in manhattan, illinois -- not new york -- is jeff flock. jeff. [laughter] >> ashley, i don't know if you've ever had pleasure of being inside a corn bin. this is, this is jim robbins' corn bin, and if you've ever walked around in one, it's sort of like walking in quick sand. quick sand is not where the price for corn is right now. jim, you're seeing prices you haven't seen, as ashley pointed out, in almost a decade, and a lot of this goes to ethanol now, this corn. >> right. 40% of the corn goes to ethanol production. >> reporter: that's a huge increase. corn used to be thought of as

food. it's now food and fuel, and the thought is that, you know, as people get out and drive more. you're going to need a lot more ethanol. >> right. and we've been increasing yields every year so we can keep up with the production. >> reporter: ashley, look at this thing. this is a 50,000 bin -- bushel corn bin. today we had a report from the usda says a lot more -- or a lot less corn is now in storage. if you look at this, we've got about, what, it's about 10,000 bushel? >> 10,000 bushel left in this bin. >> reporter: and if you look, ashley, this is now worth a whole lot more than it used to be. we're looking at prices around, what is it, what are we now? almost $6? >> right about $6 a bushel. >> reporter: as you point out, there's some concerns about inflation, you know? [laughter] you guys took a heavy hit last year with the china tear lives -- tariffs. now you've got a chance to recoup. >> yeah. we needed this because we had five years it was at -- break even or below. so this is something that we

needed in agriculture. >> reporter: jim robbins, great american corn farmer and appreciate his indulgence in letting us, you know, climb through the bins here. [laughter] i tell you, it's kind of of -- it's a little bit fun as long as you don't get buried in it and, of course, some people have, so there you go. that is gold in more ways than one. golden corn and kind of gold for anybody who's got enough of it to sell right now. ashley? ashley: fascinating, jeff, as always. it looks like you're walking across a sand dune when you pull back. i have, indeed, been inside when i was working and living in montana. they are truly amazing. i wonder how much popcorn you could get out of that. anyway, jeff flock, thank you so much. as always, jeff, great report. all right, at home fitness equipment maker nautilus and on-demand giant peloton clear winners in the pandemic. those stocks are moving higher today. but the question is, will

reopenings of gyms across the country threaten all of those at-home all-stars? enter exponential fitness which owns some of the hottest names in the fitness industry. the ceo is here on his latest acquisition and why he's not pulling any punches when it comes to tko-ing his at-home rivals. closing bell ringing in about 29 minutes from now. the stocks con to, well, they're -- continue to, well, they're up at session highs. check out the dow, up 224 points heading towards the final bell. we'll be right back. ♪ ♪

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especially xponential fitness whose portfolio includes club pilates, pure barre and rowhouse, it franchises those brands out, and now it's roundhouse kicking up business with a new acquisition. let's bring in ceo and founder, anthony geisler. anthony, thanks for joining us. i understand you're loca candidated in every state except for -- located except for alaska and north dakota. that's impressive. the question being are all of your 1400 plus franchises up and running in some kind of capacity, or do you still have some low cautions closes -- locations closed? >> we actually have all of our locations back open, so we're at about 112% of where we were pre-covid as far as locations go. ashley: you came out with xponential go, it was kind of a peloton-type platform that

allows for at-home fitness. and i understand members paid dues to use that service. could that become permanent, do you think, for your franchisees? >> yes, it'll absolutely be permanent. we actually were launching x-go prior to pandemic. we were planning to do that direct to consumer as well. and so it was great that we already had that on tap to be able to leverage to all of our franchisees and all of our members across the country. so it'll definitely be a part of what we continue to do. ashley: how have you survived? how has the industry as a whole, but how have is you survived when it was, essentially, shuttered for so long and people got used to working out at home in potentially, how did you -- personally, and are you concerned people won't come back in the same numbers? >> we shifted immediately to digital, and we also did outdoors. we still processed about 435

million in membership dues in 2020, and i'm happy to report that 92% of our members are back and utilizing our facilities. so, you know, we definitely have recovered not that covid, the pandemic, is over, you know, by any means. but as far as a, you know, a business definition of that, we are definitely almost right back to where we were pre-covid. ashley: how do you handle the wearing of masks? because some people refuse, and then others will say i'm not going in there if everybody is not wearing a mask. especially working out. is it difficult call in does it vary from state to state? >> it varies from state to state, it varies from city to city. obviously, it's, you know, mask wearing has become a legal as well as a, you know, a social discussion. and so, you know, we are following all the guidelines, the cdc guidelines and local,ity

and state mandates. but it is different in different parts of the country, for sure. ashley: wanted to talk about your, i guess, it's a foray is a good word into the boxing world with the acquisition of rumble. are you going to start franchising that brand, and what exactly is it? >> yeah. i started in the world of franchising almost 20 years ago with a brand called ally boxing, so it's great to be back home in the modality. we have already begun to franchise rumble boxing and already sold a few units, and we'll do a lot more just in the balance of this month. but rumble boxing is the most exciting, more exciting than la boxing was, and, you know, i was the founder of that. the best brand and a great modality. ashley: well, you're certainly expanding at the same time as recovering from a pandemic. we wish you the very best of luck for the future. anthony geisler, thank you so much. appreciate it. >> thanks a lot, ashley.

bye-bye. ashley: all right. a quick look, if we can, at the nasdaq right now. it is up by, let's see, it's up 44 points. why is that significant? well, the nasdaq needs to close within a gain of 40.77 points to actually exit correction territory. so we are there right now. that means it will be up 10% from its correction low that it hit back on march 8th if we hang on to these gains. it's out of correction. amazon workers striking down efforts to unionize in alabama. larry kudlow gives us his take on amazon's big win. the closing bell now less than 20 minutes away. we'll be right back. ♪♪

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♪♪ ashley: wall street is finally getting its top cop soon to be chairman of the securities and exchange commission, gary gensler will be voted on by the senate next week. but some wall street insiders are noting democrats are not exactly committing to gensler in the long term. what does all that mean? charlie gasparino has the detail now. charlie? >> this is such an odd story that it's made for you and me, ashley. [laughter] it's bizarre. let me walk you through this. chuck schumer, the senate majority leader, will have one vote wednesday to install gary gensler as the sec chief to finish jay clayton's term which ends in june. under the current plan, gensler will have to be revoted on in another 18 months unless schumer votes twice in that, in that

session to extend it to a full four-year term. it isen clear, from what we're hearing -- particularly from pat toomey's office, one of the ranking members on the banking committee who will have the vote -- whether schumer will do those two votes. that means if he doesn't do the two votes, that means gary gensler's term will have to be revoted on in 18 months after june. now, why would schumer do something like? that's what has wall street's tongues wagging. we talked to dick bove. maybe schumer likes wall street so much, he wants to make sure dependenceler doesn't destroy his pal on wall street who give him a lot of campaign contributions. republicans are like, maybe not so fast. we think he wants to do two votes so gary gensler carries out democratic plans to push for very, very progressive measures on wall street and corporate america such as mandates for everything sg investment

among -- esgs investment among investing firms is and various types of disclosures, soft disclosures about board diversity and other issues for companies. those the two opposing views on this thing on why there's two votes. and i'll tell you, it is the strangest thing i've ever heard of. we should point out that schumer's office declined to comment. pat toomey's office did confirm the story and also reminded us that he plans to vote against gensler either way, if it's once or twice. back to you, ashley. ashley: that is very strange. [laughter] laugh so schumer could vote for him once but then that's it, signaling that they're going to have to vote again in june. that is really, really odd. >> you know -- ashley: well, thanks for finding it this friday. [laughter] >> that's what fridays are for, what can i tell you? [laughter] ashley: we'll are to leave it there, but thank you, charlie, you didn't let us down. a slew of big names in business are leaving their 2020

federal income taxes up paid as president biden zeros in on tax hikes, and it's that 28% rate that our countdown closer says could pose the biggest threat to the markets' post-covid comeback. the picks he says that could protect your portfolio from the fallout are coming up next. the closing bell rings not long from now. the dow up 239 points. ♪t ♪ llion transistors into this chip whoo! yeah! oh, hi i invested in invesco qqq a fund that invests in the innovators of the nasdaq 100 like you you don't have to be circuit design engineer to help push progress forward can i hold the chip? become an agent of innovation with invesco qqq can i hold the chip? no one likes to choose between safe or sporty.

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♪♪ ashley: the closing bell rings in just under nine minutes from now, and session highs, check out the dow, up 268. finishing strong as we head into the weekend on the dow. s&p looking to close at an all-time high and the nasdaq close to popping out of correction territory. it's all going on, we just need 40 points higher on the s&p, maybe, maybe not. we'll see. for the week the dow, s&p 500

stretching their weekly winning streak to three while the nasdaq is up two weeks in a row. this nice, constant melt-up that we've been talking about. some of the biggest movers this week, twitter, norwegian cruise lines -- maybe they can sail again -- and tapestry. all of those stocks up very nicely. twitter up more than 11%. now this stories, a vote even bigger than the 020 election for amazon -- 2020 election for amazon. workers in the bessamer, alabama, warehouse striking down efforts to union nice. an overwhelming 1798 employees voted against unionization despite some workers' claims of unfair conditions and intimidation. the retail wholesale and department store union would have represented those workers, and now it says plans, of course, to challenge the results. let's bring in "kudlow" host, the aptly named larry kudlow. larry, what to you make of the win here for amazon?

larry: i think it's really bullish. by the way, i think it's one of the reasons the market is closing so well today as final numbers come in. 71 -- last i heard, 80% voted, maybe more, 71% against the union and 16% in favor of the union. but, ashley, in general terms i just see this as a big victory for individual worker freedom and choice and a big defeat for the top-down, left-wing leadership of this particular union and, frankly, in today's world most unions. i see this as a victory of freedom over left-wing, ultra-progressive policies that would probably damage business and damage the work force. ashley: well, you know, amazon's argument all along was, listen, look at the package we already offer these work workers; $15 an

hour, all the health benefit, paid vacation, all the things the union was asking for other than representation and forcing these workers to pay dues. i think amazon's point was well made, and it was received. larry: and good health care benefits, ashley, very important. and twice the minimum wage. the minimum wage in alabama is close to the national, it's about $7.25. amazon pays twice that. and amazon in general around the country will pay no less than $15 an hour. so that's, you know, they pay well, they have good benefits, it's a good company. the worker -- the unions are trying to make all these various, you know, excuses and stuff. amazon has every right in the world to provide information for an election just like anybody running for president would provide information for an election. so i see this as a very positive development. i think president biden made a gigantic mistake in trying to interfere with this election. he got his butt kicked and

worker freedom, victorious. worker freedom wins. ashley: i'd love to hear from aoc and bernie sanders, but a this that's for another day. larry, thank you so much. we'll be seeing you at the top of the hour, coming up right at 4 p.m.. thank you, sir. larry's special guest, former u.s. ambassador to the united nations kelly kraft and republican senator tommy opportunity therville of alabama. tuberville of alabama. all all right as the pandemc starts to recede, could a hike in corporate tax rates cut off the recovery? today's countdown closer calls it the next biggest risk to the market, so i think he does think that. his name is ernesto ramos, global asset management. thank you so much for joining us, ernesto. so you believe that the proposed

15 -- the proposed 28% corporate tax rate is a major hurdle if it's approved. >> yes. i don't think 28% will pass, probably going to be closer to 25 or even lower than that. and that seems to be what the market is pricing in. if it's any higherren than that, we're -- higher than that, we're going to get a market reaction, but i don't think that's in the cards as of now. [inaudible conversations] ashley: yes. go ahead. >> i was going to say joe manchin is the key vote here, and he does not want anything higher than 25. ashley: no. maybe that's the number they'll settle on. you know, listen, we've seen this melt-up go on and on for a while here. or what are you telling your investors who haven't been participating, who have been sitting on a pile of cash? what are you telling them? >> well, i think this market's got legs. valuations are a little bit

elevated but not so much relative to bonds, and if you're anticipating, like we are, anticipating the strong economic growth, monetary and fiscal policies to continue and very strong reopening and higher yields, you want to be invested in the equity market and not in bonds. so even at this level, it makes sense to be more overweighted in equities than in bonds. so we're telling investors you don't have -- if you haven't put all your money to work, start buying into this because it's got legs. ashley: it's got legs. that's good to hear. what sectors do you like? if i'm reading your notes correctly, you like financials, industrials, energy? is that correct? >> we like a little bit of everything right now. we're more towards values and cyclicals, but the fundamentals of technology make it very attractive. the key to this market, we think, is not to overpay. so, for example, we own broad

broadcom in the portfolio which trades about 18 times '21 earnings compared to the russell which trades at about 31 times. so this is the key for us, buy every stock in the portfolio at a discount to what we think that the company is intrinsically worth, and that will give you a level of protection against the valuation rates which we think is one of the risks that is out there in the a market. ashley: what about big tech, ernesto? a lot of people have a lot of interest in big techment but, you know -- big tech, but, you know, they continue to move up. microsoft hit a recent all-time high. do you still like this sector? is it still not too high for you? >> well, in our growth strategies we own companies like microsoft and amazon because we're much less valuation-sensitive there. we would not own them. but the fundamentals of these companies are phenomenal. it's that people have taken them

to a very, very high level of valuation. you think amazon has always been expensive and has always managed to do better than people expect. they report quarter on quarter, so they keep going up, and that's what you have to do when you a growth investor, sort of put a little bloind fold to valuation and -- blindfold to valuation and plow ahead on the basis of fundamentals related to growth and quality, and that's what we do in our growth strategies. ashley: yeah. amazon is a tough company to bet against, for sure. it's just so -- it just continues to expand and grow in new areas. what about inflation? we had a report this morning, the consumer price index, that was much higher than anybody thought it would be. you'd think the markets would react negatively, no reaction at all. are you concerned about inflation? >> >> until the fed decides there's too much in the race the rates targeted and as you said, the

goal of the high inequities is just basically an foss appeals. larry: thank you so much for joining us, it is great to see you. the bells arrange to get the markets are up nicely in the s&p not out of correction territory. join larry kudlow at 4:00 p.m. ♪ ♪♪ larry: hello everyone, welcome back to kudlow and i am larry kudlow predict socks today closed higher across the board of the down the s&p 500 closed in record territory. in the nasdaq seems to have pulled out of correction territory. and i do think were going to come back to this later in the show. and i do think the victory of the worker freedom and the union election in alabama with respect to amazon, i think it was a big booster for the market all day long. the first non- antibusiness development we have seen.